Infrared, Raman, and ultraviolet absorption spectra and theoretical calculations and structure of 2,6-difluoropyridine in its ground and excited electronic states.

The infrared and Raman spectra of 2,6-difluoropyridine (26DFPy) along with ab initio and DFT computations have been used to assign the vibrations of the molecule in its S0 electronic ground state and to calculate its structure. The ultraviolet absorption spectrum showed the electronic transition to the S1(π,π*) state to be at 37,820.2 cm(-1). With the aid of ab initio computations the vibrational frequencies for this excited state were also determined. TD-B3LYP and CASSCF computations for the excited states were carried out to calculate the structures for the S1(π,π*) and S2(n,π*) excited states. The CASSCF results predict that the S1(π,π*) state is planar and that the S2(n,π*) state has a barrier to planarity of 256 cm(-1). The TD-B3LYP computations predict a barrier of 124 cm(-1) for the S1(π,π*) state, but the experimental results support the planar structure. Hypothetical models for the ring-puckering potential energy function were calculated for both electronic excited states to show the predicted quantum states. The changes in the vibrational frequencies in the two excited states reflect the weaker π bonding within the pyridine ring.